Analyzing Guess? (NYSE:GES) and Oxford Industries (NYSE:OXM)

Guess? (NYSE:GES) and Oxford Industries (NYSE:OXM) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Guess? and Oxford Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Guess?	0	4	0	1	2.40
Oxford Industries	3	4	0	0	1.57

Guess? currently has a consensus price target of $16.75, indicating a potential downside of 1.21%. Oxford Industries has a consensus price target of $54.40, indicating a potential upside of 46.66%. Given Oxford Industries’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Oxford Industries is more favorable than Guess?.

Profitability

This table compares Guess? and Oxford Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Guess?	1.01%	16.44%	3.05%
Oxford Industries	3.80%	10.99%	5.15%

Dividends

Guess? pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Oxford Industries pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. Guess? pays out 562.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Oxford Industries pays out 74.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Guess? has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Oxford Industries has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Oxford Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Guess? has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oxford Industries has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Guess? and Oxford Industries”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guess?	$3.09 billion	0.29	$60.42 million	$0.16	105.97
Oxford Industries	$1.49 billion	0.37	$92.97 million	$3.70	10.02

Oxford Industries has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Guess?. Oxford Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Guess?, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

61.7% of Guess? shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.2% of Oxford Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.7% of Guess? shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Oxford Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Oxford Industries beats Guess? on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Guess?

Guess?, Inc. designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It operates through five segments: Americas Retail, Americas Wholesale, Europe, Asia, and Licensing. The company’s clothing collection includes jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, activewear, knitwear, and intimate apparel. It also grants licenses to design, manufacture, and distribute various products that complement its apparel lines, such as eyewear, watches, handbags, footwear, kids’ and infants’ apparel, outerwear, fragrance, jewelry, and other fashion accessories, as well as to wholesale partners to operate and sell products through licensed retail stores. The company markets its products under the GUESS, GUESS?, GUESS U.S.A., GUESS Jeans, GUESS? and Triangle Design, MARCIANO, Question Mark and Triangle Design, a stylized G and a stylized M, GUESS Kids, Baby GUESS, YES, G by GUESS, GUESS by MARCIANO, and Gc brand names. It sells its products through direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and licensing distribution channels, as well as through its retail websites. Guess?, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Oxford Industries

Oxford Industries, Inc., an apparel company, designs, sources, markets, and distributes products of lifestyle and other brands worldwide. The company offers men's and women's sportswear and related products under the Tommy Bahama brand; and women's and girl's dresses and sportswear, scarves, bags, jewelry, and belts, as well as children's apparel, swim, footwear, and licensed products under the Lilly Pulitzer brand. In addition, the company licenses Tommy Bahama brand for various products, such as indoor and outdoor furniture, beach chairs, bedding and bath linens, fabrics, leather goods and gifts, headwear, hosiery, sleepwear, shampoo, toiletries, fragrances, cigar accessories, distilled spirits, and other products; and Lilly Pulitzer for stationery and gift products, home furnishing products, and eyewear. The company distribute its products through southerntide.com, thebeaufortbonnetcompany.com, and duckhead.com; and specialty retailers. It offers products through its retail stores, department stores, specialty stores, multi-branded e-commerce retailers, off-price retailers, and other retailers, as well as e-commerce sites. The company operates brand-specific full-price retail stores; Tommy Bahama food and beverage locations; and Tommy Bahama outlet stores. Oxford Industries, Inc. was founded in 1942 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.